High School Principal Shocked by Cougar Encounter Caught on Camera

WOODINVILLE, Wash. -- The principal at a Washington State high school describes a recent encounter with a cougar as "amazing." Bob Hagin says Northwest Liberty School in Woodinville was visited by a cougar three times on Friday. The animal was captured on a surveillance camera once.

Hagin told KCPQ he was working in his office when he heard noises coming from the Study Lab area, but was stunned when he saw the source.

"I check it out, only to see the cougar pawing at a window," Hagin wrote on Facebook.

Hagin said another window had a "lick mark on it."

Surveillance video shows a cougar staring at Hagin and someone else inside the classroom. The camera is pointed towards the outside but it also captured the window's reflection of the inside of the classroom, giving the video an eerie look.

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This was the third time Hagin had come in contact with the cougar. Several hours earlier, the school alerted neighbors and the public of a cougar sighting.

"For those who don't know where we are located, we are across from Dairy Queen along the Little Bear Creek in Woodinville, Washington. Unfortunately, when the cougar was an arm's length away, we were too stunned to grab a camera."

Hagin said the high school is located in a pretty commercialized area of Woodinville and that there hasn’t been a reported cougar sighting there for a while.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife has been notified of the sighting. Hagin said the department reassured the school that the animal would not stick around.